BITS Pilani's BITSoM Launches VERTEX AI Incubator With LENZ to Scale India’s Next 100 AI Startups

• Partnering with Silicon Valley’s LENZ, this industry-led incubator is launching a nationwide search to help high-potential founders move from Ideas to MVP to enterprise pilots.

BITS School of Management (BITSoM), under the aegis of BITS Pilani, today unveils BITSoM VERTEX, a premier AI incubator developed in partnership with LENZ, a leading Silicon Valley AI Innovation Studio. The incubator is designed to catapult emerging AI startups into high-growth, enterprise-ready AI businesses. To kick-start this journey, BITSoM is partnering with Hack2Skill to launch a nationwide search for India's most promising AI founders. Through this initiative, BITSoM will support founders in moving beyond MVPs to build enterprise-validated, highly scalable AI products and businesses.

India has rapidly emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing AI innovation hubs, powered by world-class technical talent and a vibrant startup culture. However, early-stage AI founders often hit a bottleneck when transitioning from a promising Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to commercial viability. Critical growth barriers include securing enterprise pilot opportunities, separating AI products from AI wrappers, validating market demand, refining business models, , and preparing for institutional investment. BITSoM VERTEX was specifically designed to solve these exact friction points.

Over the next three years, the incubator aims to graduate 100 AI startups through its structured incubation programme. To achieve this, the program provides comprehensive resources tailored to early-stage acceleration. Selected startups will gain access to Silicon Valley expertise, venture-building mentorship, and global frameworks through LENZ. To ensure commercial validation, the incubator offers dedicated pathways to enterprise pilot opportunities and real-world customer testing. Furthermore, founders will benefit from investor networks, funding pathways, and state-of-the-art AI infrastructure, alongside dedicated student venture teams from BITSoM who will work directly with startups on business development and market research.

"Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping industries and redefining how businesses operate," said Prof. Saravanan Kesavan, Dean and Professor of Operations, BITSoM. "As a business school preparing tomorrow's leaders, our role extends beyond classroom education to actively fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. Through BITSoM VERTEX, we are creating a powerful ecosystem where founders can learn from seasoned business leaders, collaborate closely with industry partners, and build companies that solve meaningful, real-world problems. Moreover, our students will get an unparalleled opportunity to work very closely with founders and play a pivotal role in the growth of early-stage AI ventures. This experiential journey, will prepare them to build with AI or even start their own AI companies."

"India needs more global AI startups like Sarvam and Emergent. BITSoM VERTEX seeks such AI entrepreneurs who have the relentless desire to solve local AI problems that have a global scale" added Arvind Ravishunkar, Managing Director, BITSoM VERTEX. " With 5+million software engineers, a leading digital finance ecosystem and a captive 1.4M demand, India is ripe to participate in meaningful AI innovation. Through BITSoM VERTEX, we want to give founders immediate access to customers, talent, and resources that can help them scale faster. "

We welcome applications from AI startups across all domains and emerging AI technologies. However, given India's national priorities and AI technology maturity, we have identified key areas where our expertise and resources can drive maximum impact : enterprise AI, software automation and tools, vertical AI, multilingual AI, edtech AI and financial AI.

Applications for the inaugural cohort of BITSoM VERTEX are now officially open. Founders from across India who are leveraging AI to solve complex business and societal challenges are invited to apply through the official portal.

For further information, log on to: vertex.bitsom.edu.in

About BITSoM

BITS School of Management (BITSoM) is a new-age global business school under the aegis of BITS Pilani, an Institution of Eminence. Located near Mumbai, BITSoM combines academic rigour with industry engagement to prepare future business leaders for a rapidly changing world. Its MBA programme brings together a globally benchmarked curriculum, distinguished faculty and experiential learning to equip graduates with the skills needed to lead in an AI-driven business environment.

Axis Bank & BITS Pilani Launch ₹100 Cr Deep-Tech Research Park in Hyderabad to Drive Affordable Healthcare Innovation

Axis Bank, one of the largest private sector banks in India, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, an Institution of Eminence, to establish the Axis Bank–BITS Industry Research, Technology & Innovation Park at the BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus. This collaboration, with a ₹100 crore CSR marks a significant step towards strengthening India’s deep-tech and translational research ecosystem by creating an integrated launchpad for facilitating deeper industry-academia collaboration, driving innovation and entrepreneurship.

With a focus on Life Sciences, Biopharma, healthcare and medical devices, the proposed Axis Bank–BITS Industry Research, Technology & Innovation Park at the Hyderabad campus is being developed as a dedicated platform to strengthen India’s innovation ecosystem, with a focus on enabling cost-effective healthcare solutions that benefit the public at large. The Park's location in Hyderabad places it at the heart of Telangana's thriving life sciences corridor, anchored by Genome Valley. By embedding academia-led biopharma and deep-tech capabilities within this ecosystem, the partnership supports national priorities for affordable healthcare, translational research, and self-reliance in critical technologies under the Government of India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives.

Under the partnership, BITS Pilani shall guide the Research Park’s governance and research agenda, while Axis Bank shall support its infrastructure development.

Spread across approximately 120,000 sq. ft., the Axis Bank–BITS Industry Research, Technology & Innovation Park shall house laboratories, incubation spaces, and diverse shared facilities under one roof, especially supporting innovators from academia, startups and MSME domains through structured partnerships, co-design and co-creation of projects. This will support technology transfer and IP management, and provide ready access to BITS Pilani’s academic expertise and talent.

Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor, BITS Pilani, said, “The partnership between BITS Pilani and Axis Bank is exactly the kind of forward-looking collaboration India needs to build stronger innovation systems. The Research Park will help BITS Pilani deepen its work in cutting-edge research and entrepreneurship, while also contributing to solutions that can make a meaningful difference to society. It is encouraging to see academic and industry leaders come together with a shared commitment to research, talent development and lasting national impact.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Amitabh Chaudhry, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Axis Bank, said, “At Axis Bank, we believe that the future of inclusive and sustainable progress lies at the intersection of knowledge, innovation, and purpose. Our collaboration with BITS Pilani resonates strongly with our organizational ethos and our commitment to nurturing ecosystems that can solve real-world challenges. As institutions, we share a collective vision of building conscientious leaders equipped with knowledge and the unwavering resolve to make a difference.”

Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Vice-Chancellor, BITS Pilani, said, “This MoU represents a powerful alignment of vision between academia and industry. At BITS Pilani, we have always believed that the future of higher education lies in creating ecosystems that are interdisciplinary, research-intensive, and deeply connected to society and industry. The Axis Bank–BITS Research Park will help us build precisely such an ecosystem, one that supports faculty-led innovation, nurtures doctoral research, accelerates translation, and prepares our students to solve complex problems at scale.”

The MoU signing ceremony held in Mumbai brought together leaders from both the organisations around a shared goal of turning ideas into impact and strengthening the bridge between research and industry.

IBM Acquiring BITS Pilani Alumnus' Founded Oracle Consultancy Accelalpha

IBM has announced its intent to acquire Accelalpha, a leading Oracle Consultancy founded by Nat Ganesh, an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani campus.

This acquisition aims to enhance IBM's expertise in Oracle Cloud Applications, particularly in areas like supply chain, logistics, finance, enterprise performance management (EPM), and customer transformation.

Founded by Ganesh in 2009, Accelalpha is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, and is known for its deep expertise in Oracle Cloud solutions and has a significant presence across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America.

This acquisition will bring a large team of skilled consultants to IBM Consulting, further strengthening IBM's capabilities in deploying and managing Oracle solutions.

Accelalpha is a global provider of Oracle Cloud Applications consulting across advisory, implementation and managed services. Its highly skilled team serves clients across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America, with a focus on distribution, industrial and financial services sectors.

Notably, Accelalpha was the first Oracle partner to implement Oracle Fusion Financials, and also boasts as the largest Oracle logistics practice globally.

"IBM’s client and employee-centric culture and long-established scale and reach in more than 175 countries is a great fit for the next stage of our growth,” said Nat Ganesh, CEO, Accelalpha. “We’re thrilled to bring our expertise in Oracle Cloud solutions and targeted domain and industry knowledge to bear together with IBM’s strength in generative AI and hybrid cloud. With Accelalpha’s history of being a pioneer in Oracle Cloud and IBM’s deep-rooted dedication to innovation that matters, we can further accelerate value creation for our clients.”

IBM and Oracle’s partnership to serve clients spans almost 40 years. IBM was named a Leader in the 2023 IDC MarketScape for Oracle Implementation Services Ecosystem Worldwide.

Post acquisition, Accelalpha will join IBM Consulting, bringing over a large global team of skilled consultants to help clients modernize with Oracle Cloud Applications.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Accelalpha has primarily grown through organic means and strategic acquisitions rather than extensive external funding. However, it has received investment from Graycliff Partners, a private equity firm.

Nat Ganesh, the founder and CEO of Accelalpha, has a strong connection to India. He was born and raised in India before moving to the United States to further his education and career.

Nat Ganesh attended the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, where he earned a Master’s degree in Science and Engineering Management. This prestigious institution is known for producing many successful entrepreneurs and leaders in the technology and business sectors.

Accelalpha has a notable presence in India, with operations primarily based in Hyderabad, Telangana. The Indian office plays a crucial role in supporting Accelalpha's global operations, particularly in areas like Oracle Cloud Applications consulting, implementation, and managed services.

The Hyderabad office is involved in various aspects of Accelalpha's business, including supply chain management, logistics, finance, enterprise performance management (EPM), and customer transformation. This presence in India allows Accelalpha to leverage the region's rich talent pool and provide high-quality services to clients worldwide.

BITS Pilani Launches PhD Program to Create Deep Tech Ventures

BITS Pilani has announced the launch of an innovative PhD Program that would result in creation of a startup based on research done during the PhD. The program will focus on creation of deep tech and deep science startup ventures, that will solve some of the most critical societal and business challenges. This is keeping in line with BITS Pilani’s history of introducing innovations in the higher education space over the past 60 Years, be it the Practice School concept, the first ever dual-degree programs or newer pedagogical practices.

The new program, to be called as PhD-DRIVE, short for Deep-tech Research, Innovation, Value generation & Entrepreneurship, will admit students with expertise in technology and science, and a clear intent to set up a startup. The program will include courses in entrepreneurship, incubation program, funding for building a solution or product, and most of all, access to BITS alumni network for further investments.

Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Vice-Chancellor, BITS Pilani said, “The world requires our best researchers and academics to put their innovative research to use in solving the biggest challenges facing humanity. As a country, we haven’t done enough in the area of Deep Technology and Deep Science ventures, where a startup takes a long time to become viable. With this new program, we want PhD scholars to become an entrepreneur along with becoming an innovator, and not just look at an academic career post their PhDs”. Goal will be to incubate 100 startups through this program by 2030, said Prof. Rao. BITS Pilani alumni have created over 7400 startups of value all over the world so far including 13 unicorns and a decacorn.

He further added, “Our current focus areas include solutions to address issues related to homeland and cyber security, healthcare, environment, agriculture, space and energy. Many sub-domains in these areas related to climate change, industry 4.0, food-technology etc will be of interest. The idea is to make advanced technologies such as quantum science and nanotechnology work for people at the grassroots. The PhD students under this startup track shall join a centre of excellence or a specialized lab at BITS Pilani working in these areas.”

To recall, in last November Devjani Ghosh, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), said — "More financing is needed for the country's deep technology startup to move fast, while at the moment the sector is receiving only 11 percent of total technology investment."

BITS Pilani and its technology business incubators such as DST supported PIEDS, BIRAC supported BGIIES, and the DST NM-ICPS supported BioCyTIH will work with various partners including investment partners, government labs, industry experts, corporates, and BITS alumni to keep the PhD scholars on a path of forming a startup, and also create opportunities for them to seek further investments. Speciale Invest, a leading venture capital firm with a focus to invest in deep tech startups has already expressed their early support to the program.

Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner, Speciale Invest, said, “Academia is a breeding ground for deeptech innovations and as a leading deeptech investor in India, we are excited to partner with BITS Pilani in an innovative programme to foster the next generation of deep science and deeptech entrepreneurs.”

Rajaram further adds, “shaping holistic founders who understand technology and business will be a critical link for the current decade of India Deep Tech to be successful. Having invested in multiple deeptech startups at the early stage including those in spacetech, electric mobility, batteries, robotics, semiconductors amongst others, we look forward to playing an active role in helping PhD students ideate, build, iterate and commercialize innovations that have a large-scale impact on India and the world.”

The scholars will be working in various Centre of Excellences that BITS has already set up in the areas of Semiconductors, Bio-Cyber Physical Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Medical Diagnostics and Infectious Diseases, amongst others. The scholars would be supported through a much higher stipend, and would be provided a prototyping grant during the program.

Suresh Kabra, alumnus of 82-87 batch, under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Suman Kapoor Memorial Charitable Trust, has decided to sponsor 3 women Ph.D. Scholars with innovative ideas in the Biological Sciences area, along with the seed funds. Kabra said, “BITS Pilani has a strong entrepreneurial culture amongst the undergraduate levels and in the alumni community. With Ph.D. and post-doc scholars being encouraged to set up a venture, it will augur well for the deep science innovation ecosystem on its campuses. The industry needs application of fundamental research being done at Ph.D. level and this is a step in the right direction."

The admission for this program will be round the year and notifications for the program shall be posted on BITS website and its social media channels. BITS Pilani is leveraging its strong alumni network and corporate partners for funding and mentorship support.

BITS Pilani is an institution of eminence that offers programs in science, technology, and management from its 5 campuses – Pilani, Dubai, Goa, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. In 2021, it launched BITS School of Management (BITSoM), a new-age global business school, and in 2023, it began offering programs in Law through the BITS Law School (BITSLaw). It also offers program to working professionals in more than 300 companies through its Work Integrated Learning Programs.

‘Infinity 2021 - The Ultimate Math Championship’, Organized by Aditya Birla World Academy, goes global this year

567 students, 189 teams, 130 schools from India, Dubai, Doha, Singapore & Sri Lanka participated in ‘Infinity 2021’ organized by Aditya Birla World Academy in association with BITS Pilani

Mumbai, 21st January 2021: Aditya Birla World Academy (ABWA), India's leading International School, in association with BITS Pilani successfully conducted 'Infinity 2021- The Ultimate Math Championship' to hone the inner mathematical genius among school students. 

For the first time since its inception, Infinity was conducted virtually this year and saw overwhelming participation of 567 students, 189 teams from across 130 national and international schools. The championship went global this year with young talent participating from Dubai, Doha, Singapore and Sri Lanka. The core idea of ‘Infinity’ was conceived by Mr. Prodipta Hore, Coordinator of International Initiatives at Aditya Birla World Academy with the view to inculcate love for mathematics and unravel knowledge through idea-sharing.

Mrs. Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust, said, “Despite it being a virtual event, Infinity 2021 saw Mathematics enthusiasts come together to celebrate the bright minds from diverse regions of the world. It was truly a remarkable moment for us to not only host the championship which saw talented young minds participate but also it was of great satisfaction to witness such a large number of students compete and showcase their skills."

Mrs. Radhika Sinha, Principal, Aditya Birla World Academy said, “The 7th edition of Infinity witnessed participation from 130 national and international schools, which truly showcases the enthusiasm of these youngsters. In this competition, the rounds were designed to develop the most engaging and fun ways for students to learn and celebrate Mathematics, breaking the stereotype of it being considered a tedious subject."

The top 50 teams competed in the finale, which took place on the 15th and 16th January 2021. The Guests of Honour were Dr. James Tanton, Mathematician-at-Large, from the Mathematical Association of America and Dr. Quan Lam, Founder, World Mathematics Team Championship. The day one of Infinity comprised the individual round - 'Clash of Mathematicians'. The next round was 'Math Challengers' followed by 'Pass the Baton’ round and the last activity for the day was the 'Ice Breaker Activity.' The day two of Infinity consisted of a quiz round – ‘Quizzitch’, ‘Bulb Your Ideas’ round and a workshop on Autograph by Mr. Douglas Bulter.

The Winner of Infinity 2021 was Delhi Public School, Greater Faridabad and the team members Aviral Jain, Kanishk Goyal and Krish Techchandani received the Infinity Champions of the Year Certificate. The Mathematician of the Year 2021 was awarded to Yash Vats from Delhi Public School, Greater Faridabad and Ashug Kumar Gurijala from Oakridge International School, Hyderabad. The Gold Certificate Winners for ‘Math Challengers’, ‘Quizzitch’, 'Pass the Baton’ and ‘Bulb Your Ideas’ were Hill Spring International School, Mumbai, Aditya Birla World Academy, Mumbai, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai and Navrachana International School, Vadodara respectively.

About Aditya Birla World Academy

Backed by Aditya Birla Education Trust, Aditya Birla World Academy (ABWA) is India's leading International School located in South Mumbai. ABWA strongly believes in holistic development of its students. ABWA strives to create a cohesive learning environment that is conducive to developing a child's innate talents. In addition to focus on academic excellence, ABWA students are encouraged to think critically and question the world around them. Further, through a wide range of extra and co-curricular activities, ABWA aims to develop a child’s personality and stimulate him/her to be a mindful, sensitive and responsible member of the society. ABWA focuses on socio-emotional development of each and every child to ensure that he/she feels safe, supported and motivated.

Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani, established in the year 1964, is an all-India Institute for Higher education deemed to be a university by the Government of India. BITS offers admission in three tiers: First Degree, Higher Degree and Doctoral Degree. Its campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai provide to over 12,000 students an all-round educational and co-curricular experience that is second to none in India. It offers UG, PG and PhD level programmes in Science, Engineering, Pharmacy, Management, Economics & Finance and Social Sciences.

The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at BITS Pilani campus consists of 16 faculty members with different specializations. The department is involved in research and teaching. It offers Higher degree programmes leading to the award of Doctoral and Master’s degrees. The department offers about 50 courses related to Humanities, Social Sciences, and interdisciplinary subjects every semester. All the students are required to do a minimum of three courses in Humanities and Social Sciences before their graduation.

Aditya Birla Education Trust (ABET) is an organisation committed to the cause of education and mental health, with an objective to nurture young minds. Right from establishing the Aditya Birla World Academy, an International School with an Indian soul, to The Aditya Birla Integrated School, which acknowledges the need to cater to children with different learning needs, ABET has always prioritised the importance of a child’s overall development. 

Further under the aegis of ABET, the Aditya Birla Education Academy provides professional development opportunities for educators, and engages, empowers and equips them to contribute towards shaping the future of young minds. In an endeavour to stamp out stigma surrounding mental health concerns, ABET has established Mpower, a holistic mental health care initiative, which has become the pioneer of mental health awareness in the country. Aditya Birla Education Trust runs under the zealous leadership of its passionate and committed Founder & Chairperson, Mrs. Neerja Birla.

Vadoo, Bengaluru StartUp Wins Rs. 50 Lakhs from India's Largest Student-run Startup Accelerator Conquest BITS Pilani

The 16th edition of Conquest, BITS Pilani's startup accelerator, concluded successfully on Sunday with Vadoo, a Bangalore based startup providing a P2P platform to enable users to simultaneously consume and deliver the stream, emerging as the winners of this edition and was awarded an equity less cash prize of Rs. 50 lakh rupees. Regarded as the country's largest student-run startup accelerator, Conquest is backed by Canbank VC, Accel Partners, and WeWork.


For the first time, Conquest decided to kickstart BITSian Track, a special program tailored exclusively for BITSian startups. Keeping up with BITS Pilani's reputation of churning out brilliant entrepreneurs, it witnessed several great startups participating. Fighting off stiff competition, it was BiteSpeed, a Gurgaon based startup that helps e-commerce brands build their own Facebook Messenger Chatbots to re-engage website visitors and recover lost revenue, that bagged the first prize.

Vadoo, Winner Conquest 2020

After the mentoring sessions of top 50 startups, the best 15 startups were shortlisted. Sessions were conducted on topics like Growth and Fundraising by personalities like Vishal Jain, VP, and Head, Growth at Shuttl, and Roopan Aulakh, Managing Director at Pi Ventures. Fireside chats were also delivered by founders of startups similar to the Top 15 startups to help them get the opinion of people who had already been in their shoes.

The best 10 startups were selected for the finale. Conquest set up investment meetings for startups with Investment firms like AngelList, Arali Ventures, Parampara VC, NuVentures, Villgro, Prime VP, Sangam Ventures, Chiratae Ventures and Rebright Partners. For the Pre Demo Day, analysts from VC firms were called upon to fine-tune the pitches of the startups, essentially acting as a build-up to the main event.

On the Virtual Demo Day, all the founders pitched their startup ideas to a decorated audience with personalities like Nilesh Kothari, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Trifecta Capital, and Vinit Bhansali, Vice President, Orios Venture Capital in attendance. Post the pitching, the Chief Guest, Mohandas Pai, Padma Shri Awardee and Chairman of Manipal Global Education and Namakal Parthasarthy, Managing Partner at Mela Ventures said a few words of inspiration that invoked the entrepreneurial mindset in everyone. It was followed by a panel discussion on 'Post Pandemic Consumerism in 2021' by Sanjay Mehta, Founder, and Partner at 100X.VC, Mahesh Murthy, Founder and Director at Exseed Space, Srikanth Sundarajan, General Partner at Ventureast, and Barath Subramanian, Partner at Accel.

In the past, Conquest BITS Pilani has had success stories like SocialCops, which was acclaimed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has also been recognized as the Most Impactful Startup of 2017 by YourStory. One of the program's latest finalists, Trell, raised $4 million and is currently valued at $19 million.

The registrations for the next edition of Conquest BITS Pilani would be beginning soon. Interested startups are suggested to visit www.conquest.org.in and register themselves.

Conquest 2020: 15 Startups Selected for Mentorship Stage

Conquest, BITS Pilani, in association with Accel and Canbank VC recently concluded its Top 50 Online Mentoring Sessions, despite the challenges faced by them during today's extraordinary situation caused by COVID-19.

The sessions, that were initially supposed to be held in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore, were conducted online due to the unpreceded circumstances and yielded great results. For the 1st time in 16 years, Conquest also decided to kickstart BITSian Track, a special program tailored exclusively for BITSian startups.

[caption id="attachment_150518" align="aligncenter" width="549"] Timeline Conquest 2019[/caption]

The sessions were held over two days on the 6th and 7th of June. The sessions were interactive and had the participation of eminent personalities like Saptarshi Prakash, Design, Swiggy, Vedanarayanan Vedantham, SME Business Head, Razorpay, Raghu Ramanujam, Director of Products(Payments), Flipkart, Mitesh Shah, Head of Finance, BookMyShow, Suhas Khuller, Strategy Head and CFO, Shuttl. Based on their feedback, fifteen startups from diverse fields qualified for the next stage.

The startups were mentored individually by mentors in the categories of Strategy, Technology, Fundraising, UI/UX Design, Growth and Operations, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Acquisition and Product.

Top 15 Startups Shortlisted from Pan India Track:

Autointelli Inc.: An AIOps company that provides modern solutions that handle modern IT Operations (ITOps) with a duo of automation and machine learning.

Community farm: An online marketplace for farmers and Agri/food startups solving the problem of traceability and transparency in the food sector.

Credlo: Provides a payment method that allows its partnered retail merchant to offer their end-customers the ability to buy goods and services on a 'Buy now, pay later' basis.

DARWYN: A B2B Electric vehicle company, helping businesses electrify their last and first-mile fleet.

EasyKrishi: A technology startup working in the field of agriculture, allowing Indian farmers to directly communicate with the buyers.

Elear Solutions Tech Pvt. Ltd.: Provide an edge intelligence-enabled Smart Home Platform as a service to Telecom and Internet Service Providers.

Emote Electric: Designs, engineers and develops smart electric vehicles to compete with and displace petrol counterparts by surpassing them in price and convenience.

HiPER Automotive: Building embedded hardware (IoT device) for vehicles to analyze, personalize, and improve the engine performance to cut fuel usage by 15% and reduce emissions by 10%.

Kashware: Links all cards, wallets, banks, etc. into one single payment card that works on all card machines and websites

Lincode: Uses 2D camera built-in IoT and artificial intelligence to identify visual defects in manufacturing lines and use robotics to eliminate defective products from the lines.

OroPocket: A universal investment platform on the blockchain, enabling users to be able to invest in digital assets and be able to use them as real money in real-time.

Sonant Technologies Pvt. Ltd.: Vision to empower specially-abled people through sustainable and affordable technology.

Sova Health: A precision nutrition platform that uses science and technology to simplify healthy eating.

Spathion Labs: Building an e-invoicing network platform based on blockchain technology for automating indirect tax reporting, auditing and building financial applications.

Vadoo: A Peer to Peer enabling users to simultaneously consume and deliver the stream.

Top 4 Startups Shortlisted from BITSian Track:

ATHVed Innovation Labs: Provides a physical and virtual card that will handle all cards in a single card.

BiteSpeed: Helps E-commerce brands build their own Facebook Messenger Chatbots to engage website visitors and recover lost revenue.

Dataxi: A B2B Data Marketplace to facilitate end-to-end data exchange between organizations.

SolarGridX: Provides a crowd investing platform that lets people invest in Solar Panels and earn returns from users who use their funding to put up Solar Panels.

The shortlisted startups will now be having online coaching sessions starting from the second week of July till the first week of September. Design, Pitching, Sales, Product, Hiring, and Legal are some of the domains that are going to be covered in these sessions. There will also be frequent networking sessions for the startups, with the Conquest finalists of previous years joining in as well to share their wonderful experiences.

The program ends with the Grand Finale, with the Startups getting an opportunity to pitch in front of India's leading investment firms. Prominent entrepreneurs, top investors, policymakers and various other stakeholders of the startup ecosystem will be attending the Finale.

Microsoft Launches AI Labs in 10 Indian Educational Institutes

Microsoft has announced yesterday the launch of 'AI Digital Labs' in collaboration with 10 higher educational institutions in the country and with this Microsoft aims to skill nearly 150,000 students for a future-ready workforce.

www.indianweb2.com first reported about this initiative in January this year.

These AI Labs will conduct a 3-year program in which Microsoft will support the selected institutions with best-in-class infrastructure, curriculum and content, access to cloud and AI services as well as developer support.

Microsoft will facilitate setting up of core AI infrastructure and IoT Hub as well as provide access to a wide range of AI developmental tools and Azure AI Services such as Microsoft Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning and Bot Services. Training programs for faculty will include workshops on cloud computing, data sciences, AI and IoT.

In addition, the faculty of these institutes will receive assistance in strategizing content and syllabus for project-based and experiential learning.

The educational institutes covered under this program include BITS Pilani, BML Munjal University, ISB, Kalpataru Institute of Technology, KL University, Periyar University, Karunya University, SRM Institute of Science & Technology, SVKM (NMIMS) and Trident Academy of Technology.

With the edge of the Intelligent Cloud Hub program, these institutions will emerge as learning centers of intelligent technologies and innovation hubs of path-breaking solutions.

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) and intelligent technologies are becoming all-pervasive today, driving change across businesses and communities. The evolution of AI and other emerging technologies is expected to create new jobs. Workers at all levels of organizations will need to be skilled for these jobs. These shifts in the talent landscape will require new ways of thinking about skills and training to ensure that the new workforce is prepared for the future and there is sufficient talent available for critical jobs," said the company announcement.

A recent Microsoft and IDC Asia/Pacific study named ‘Future Ready Business: Assessing Asia Pacific’s Growth Potential Through AI’ said that lack of skills, resources and continuous learning programs emerged as one of the top challenges faced by Indian organizations in adopting AI to accelerate their businesses.

[caption id="attachment_131208" align="aligncenter" width="300"] From left to right: Dr. Nandeeshaiah, Principal, Kalpataru Institute of Technology; Dr. R.N. Satpathy, Executive Director, Trident Academy of Technology; Joyjit Roy Ghatak Choudhury, Director- Information Technology & Knowledge Management, SRM Institute of Science and Technology; Krishnan Subramanian, Director, Digital Learning, BITS Pilani; Dr. Manoj K. Arora, Vice-Chancellor, BML Munjal University; Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India; Dr. P. Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor, Karunya University; Abhay Karhade, Advisor to President, SVKM & Chancellor NMIMS University for IT Services; Dr. Hari Kiran Vege, Head of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering and Associate Dean Academics, KL University and Dr. V. Natarajan Head, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Periyar University[/caption]

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said in a statement, "As AI becomes mainstream, organizations will require talent with skillsets that are very different from what exist now. Educators and institutions are integral to the skilling revolution taking root in the country. With the right technology infrastructure, curriculum and training, we can empower today’s students to build the India of tomorrow."

Microsoft and its entities in India have over 9,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local data centers to accelerate digital transformation across Indian start-ups, businesses, and government organizations.

Last month, Microsoft held a 5-day specially curated online Artificial Intelligence (AI) program, which was aimed at enabling the developer community and workforce across organizations in India to harness the power of AI.

Last October, Microsoft collaborated with Spektacom Technologies, a tech startup founded by former Indian national cricket team captain Anil Kumble, to launch an AI & IoT-enabled ‘Power Bat’, a cricket bat that provides players, coaches, commentators, fans and viewers with a new and unique way to engage with the sport and help improve their game. The bat is powered by the Microsoft Azure cloud platform using AI and Internet of Things (IoT) services.

In 2016, Microsoft opened one of its eight Cybersecurity Engagement Centers in the country, to address security needs of both public and private sectors.

TiE Hyderabad’s Grad Business Idea Tournament: Two Colleges Declared Joint Winners

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)
Hyderabad chapter announced the winners of TiE Grad Business Idea Tournament.
At the grand finale held on Saturday in Hyderabad 10 Finalists were asked to
present their business ideas to a panel of Jury, Investors, Angels including a
1 Minute Elevator Pitch.

TiE Hyderabad winners took away Rs. 7 Lakhs in prize money
under 5 categories evaluated by an eminent jury panel.

Overall winners (Jointly shared by) Vinnan Labs team from BiTS Pilani, Hyderabad and Solar Power Plus team from Vishnu Institute of Technology, Bhimavaram. The Best 1 Minute elevator pitch was won by UtorAI from Vardhman College of Engineering, Hyderabad.

TiE Grad Business Idea Challenge were conducted over the
period of last 12 months. 2600 students from 16 colleges from Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh, took part in this program. The winners emerged from about 119
teams mentored

Under the category Best scalable business model for global
markets Symphony bagged the top honours – for their music sharing app. For the Best
Innovative Idea Lighthouse Tech team from Sreenidhi Institute of Science &
Technologies, Hyderabad were declared winners. Best Presentation Skills winners
were UtorAI for their business idea ‘Modular Open Source Chat Bots’

All Sports Extra from Vasavi College, Vinnan Labs  from BiTS Hyderabad Campus, Symphony the
music sharing app.

Suresh Reddy, TiE Hyderabad President said “TiE works on a
two prong approach to strengthen the startup eco system at Grad and Under Grad
level. First mentor deserving startups, who are our Associate Members and two
to seed the idea of entrepreneurship into the ecosystem.”

“TiE Hyderabad conducts programs to guide budding
entrepreneurs in fund raising, business planning to sales and marketing help
that they need. Any startup who is looking to access all we offer should enrol
into TiE as an Associate Member.” Suresh added.

“Education to entrepreneurship is the keystone to building a
strong startup ecosystem of future entrepreneurs. In our next edition we will
onboard only 25 select colleges, our aim is to outperform our depth and range
of activities we introduce to our students from Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities that
will benefit more than 5000+ young studentpreneurs.” Subba Raju Pericherla, TiE
Grad Program Chair, and Board Member said.

TiE Grad finalist’s teams earned investor interests, cash
prizes and unlimited mentoring to build their ventures, find right connects to
customers, global networks and access capital to grow and scale their business.
TiE Grad is a unique initiative that is run by the entrepreneurs, for the
student entrepreneurs by TiE Hyderabad.

Goa gets 'BITS BIRAC BioNEST' Incubator for Startups & Entrepreneurs in Healthcare and Environment Sector

BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Enterprise of government of India’s department of biotechnology (DBT) have come together to launch 'BITS BIRAC BioNEST Lab', a state-of-the-art startup incubator facility.

BITS BIRAC BioNEST Lab, which will act as Incubator as well as Innovation Lab, has been set up with funding of Rs 3 crore from DBT and will be will be opened on January 3 by Goa University vice-chancellor Varun Sahni and director of BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus G Raghurama

The 3,500 sq ft facility will focus on helping startups in the health and environment sectors to find innovative solutions to issues in these areas. The start-ups will be assisted by the lab by providing them with equipment, space and support facilities to test their ideas and prototype in the lab, before taking it to the market.

The lab will focus on health and environment startups that can create products which will not only have great market potential, but also provide a solution to several pressing problems of the modern-day.

Incubation support includes work benches and equipment, office space and common infrastructure, legal & IPR services, mentorship and training, sample testing and analysis, and consultancy.

Notably, this is second new incubator in the state that is being launched within a month, as earlier this month an another incubator called Forum for Innovation Incubation Research and Entrepreneurship (FiiRE) was launched at Don Bosco College of Engineering, a Goa University affiliated institute established in 1970.

BITS Pilani, Goa campus has called entrepreneurs, investors, engineers and scientists to be a part of the network and participate in innovative thinking and help create forward-looking startups.

Any student, individual and budding entrepreneurs who need a nurturing environment to help bring their idea or product to market and for industries that need a platform for trying new processes or technologies.

Source - Times of India

BITS Goa to Kick-off its Flagship Entrepreneurial Event Coalescence

“Everyone can tell you the risk, but only an entrepreneur can see the reward”

It is this zeal, to see achieve something greater than oneself that propels people to pave their own path and become entrepreneurs..

Coalescence is BITS Goa’s flagship entrepreneurial event conducted by the Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL). Coalescence is one of the major confluence’s of India. It attracts students from all over the country and inspires their very own journey and dream of founding a start up. Coalescence is very lucky to have a supportive and robust start-up ecosystem , here in BITS Goa. We boast of hosting several prominent and prolific trend setters such as Rajat Sharma, Taapsee Pannu, Radhakrishnan Pillai to name a few.

This year we are lucky to have Sharad Sagar, Vikram Gupta and Ajay Chaturvedi to kickstart the event. BITS alumni , who are each entrepreneurs in their own right, will host a panel discussion followed by an interactive session which aims at educating students about both the pitfalls as well as the rewards of being an entrepreneur. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for budding entrepreneurs and will give them the fuel to achieve their vision and create their own destiny.

Coalescence 2018 is a confluence aiming to be India's biggest innovation summit. In its previous editions, it had several of the nations eminent entrepreneurs meet and target younger entrepreneurial minds. Conducted by the Centre of Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) , BITS Pilani Goa and Enactus, BITS Pilani Goa chapter, previous years have featured entrepreneurs like Rahul Yadav (Co-Founder and ex CEO Housing.com), Rajat Sharma (Chairman and editor-in-chief,IndiaTV), Hussain Zaidi(Crime-Reporter and Writer), Taapsee Pannu(Bollywood actress), Arunachalam Muruganantham(Social Entrepreneur), Rajat Kapoor (Actor), Shaheen Mistri(Founder of Teach for India), Kunal Shah(Founder of Freecharge), Rajat Sharma (Chairman and Editor-in-chief,IndiaTV), Vijay Anand(The StartupGuy), Tushar Vashisht(Co-Founder and CEO at HealthifyMe) , Radhakrishnan Pillai (Author of "Chanakya in you", Director, Chanakya institute of Public Leadership), Biswa Kalyan Rath(Stand-up comedian , Pretentious movie reviews fame) and more.

For more information about coalescence and it’s bookings, follow the facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CoalescenceIN/

Starting Tomorrow, BITS Pilani's Coalescence’16 Event Targets Start-up Enthusiasts of The Country

The recent times have seen the world going crazy for start-ups, and it seems to have influenced the Indian talent too. To be a part of this amazing change that the country is moving to, BITS Pilani K.K. Birla Goa campus announces Coalescence’16: Going Zero to One, the annual e-summit of the institution. The event will be held on the 4^th and 5^th of September. Coalescence’16 is targeted at being one of the best platforms for the start-up enthusiasts of the country to showcase their skills. It will leave no stone unturned to ensure that it comes out to be an enriching experience for the attendees. Some of the key events of this edition are:

ACT, the Conference

ACT is Coalescence’s flagship event, is all set to host a set of remarkable speakers to ensure that the right amount of inspiration flows from the leaders of today to the leaders of tomorrow. The conference is targeted at ensuring that every attendee gets the boost that is required to give a boost to his idea. This year, the conference will host eminent personalities like:

• Rajat Sharma: Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India T.V.


• Sairee Chahal: Founder, CEO at Sheroes


• Danish Sait: Indian Radio Host, TV presenter, Actor and Writer


• Tushar Vashisht: Co-Founder and CEO of HealthifyMe


• Atul Kulkarni: Actor


• Radhakrishnan Pillai: Director, Chanakya Institute of Public Leadership, University of Mumbai


• Bhuvan Bam: Singer, Youtuber, known for B.B. ki Vines

Workshops

Workshops at Coalescence are targeted at catering to the interests of all the attendees. With able mentors from well-known firms to guide them, the attendees get to learn various skills that are necessary for raising a successful start-up. This edition is all set to host three major workshops, namely

• Branding and Marketing


• How to build an app in less than 4 mins, in association with Thappad.in which is which is an online platform that is thought –provoking, opinion generating and positively democratic


• The art of Bootstrapping

Start-up Expo

Start-up expo is the first of its kind start-up exhibition that aims at providing a platform to start-ups to showcase their ideas in front of a large group of entrepreneurs and get them funded by the VCs and investors of big firms. The start-ups will get a 76 cmX244 cm banner for their company name. Coalescence will carry out a social media campaign for the company in order to ensure maximum publicity for the ideas of the concerned start-up. The company logo will be present in all the pamphlets and brochures of Expo, and on the festival newsletter that is given to the attendees. The participants will also be guaranteed front seats in ACT.

The participating startups in the expo are AthleticGo, CadShakes, Medifee, Nativefolks and Pawfect. Medifee is a team of doctors, medical professionals and technocrats, passionate about providing affordable and transparent healthcare to people.


Panel Discussion

The panel discussion will be a very interactive discussion with eminent personalities of the start-up ecosystem like Mr. Ajeet Khurana (Angel Investor), Mr. Nikhil Kamath (Co-Founder, Zerodha), Mr. Nitish Singh (CFO, Jugnoo) and Mr. Ashwin Srivastava (CEO, Iden Ventures). The theme for the discussion is going to be the “Start-up Bubble in India”. The panel will be discussing about the possible future of the start-ups in the country. It will surely be a great exchange of ideas among leaders of today and the leaders of tomorrow.

Novatia

After sorting out 200+ entries, 25 selected teams will be pitching their business plans in front of investors. These 25 teams were provided mentorship from associations like Kae Capital, TiE Mumbai, Mica Incubator, 180DC  and Indian Angel Network. The judge panel consists of professionals from Ide-in Ventures, Venture Studio, Forum Synergies , IBM Global Entrepreneur and 91Springboard.

 

Schedule

Day 1: September 4, 2016

1) A workshop on Branding and Marketing- 11:00 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.

2) Keynote session with Mr. Rajat Sharma - 3:00 P.M. to 4 P.M.

3) A panel discussion of the start-up bubble in India- 4:00-5:00 P.M.

Day 2: September 5, 2016

1) A workshop on Building an App in 4 minutes - 10:00 to 11:30 A.M.

2) A workshop on The Art of Bootstrapping - 11:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.

3) ACT- The Conference- 2:00 P.M. onward

More info - www.coalescence.in.

Indian University Students Test An App For Controlling Stress

Stress is a devil that has become an integral part of our lives in the 21st century. Most of the time, we're taking stress about what would happen in the future, while totally ignoring to live our present. This is a problem not only faced by the working class but also the young reserves of our country, our children.

In order to help the young minds of the nation, focus more on things that matter, a San Francisco-based start-up called Lantern has introduced an app that will provide the students with simple coping strategies to deal with stress.

The startup introduced the app in India in a three-month pilot project this year, where about 200 students of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Hyderabad, and another city university used the mobile app to monitor their mental health and communicated with the counsellors via phone and text.

India is a country where mental and physiological diseases are considered a big taboo. It comes as no surprise that the country which has about 16% of the world's population, has one-third of all the globe's recorded suicides, according to World Health Organization statistics from 2012.

Hence, the app was surely a much needed initiative in the country.

The person responsible for bringing the San Francisco app to India is Nitya Kanuri, a 25-year-old research assistant at the Stanford School of Medicine. Her Mana Maali (A hindi phrase which means 'gardner of mind') initiative, which translates to "gardener of the mind," in English, aims to increase access to mental health services for Indian university students. Kanuri is overwhelmed by the response the app has received from the Indian students.

In the pilot program, the students were first required to complete a survey on their phones to measure their stress levels and then do daily exercises on the app, like deep breathing and muscle relaxation. Counsellors recruited from Hyderabad and other Indian cities would then conduct phone conversations with students and checked on their progress through text messages.